Sinjorina Smokva fig spread

It has been an incredibly busy September and very little time for updates and pretty much anything else… But, some interesting foodie trips are always a must. That’s how we went to Poljica to meet with Sandra Babac alias Sinjorina Smokva.

This fig spread is very popular in Croatia and can be found in numerous specialty food shops & delicacies. Not only because it is tasty and made of organically grown figs but it is also packed in a very attractive design!

Sinjorina Smokva fig jam (photo by Ozren Drobnjak)

So, it was quite a pleasure to meet Sandra and her husband Alan back in July at Sokolijada of Nin. Since they are both tourist guides, we immediately started discussing creating a special culinary tour in the hinterland of Zadar. As we were all quite busy this summer, we managed to agree on meeting only now. And we live less than 40 minutes apart…

The fig trees in the orchard

Sandra lives in a small village of Poljica. Typical to this north part of Zadar county with lots of open planes covered in small oak trees and only patches of fertile land. The climate is typical Mediterranean and excellent for growing figs of great quality. We learned that day about several different varietals growing in our area and how growing figs is not as easy as it may seem! It takes a lot of effort to grow the trees and get the fruit. Sandra started with only several big old trees that were capable of producing up to 150 Kg of figs. Now, they are staring with much bigger production on several small plantations. They even had to dig their own well to get the water!

Late-ripening fig still not good...

There are no big facilities and factory halls around their home. Only a small place where the jam is actually created. It is in great contrast – being so spotless clean and sterile – with lovely garden and orchards!

The "factory"

They are also producing two other very interesting and unique products: Šinjorina Dunja and Šinjorina Maruška. Dunja is quince and Mruška is local Marasca cherry. Both very interesting and rarely used for jams! The previously mentioned SMS jams were fabulous in terms of fullness of the taste and I loved how sweet they were. Sinjorina Smokva is for those not looking for very sweet fig jam and they even have a version without any sugar.

Quince ...almost ripe

The love for nature and organically grown food brought Sandra back to her roots from Zagreb where she worked on national television. Producing this jam is not easy but passion is visible at every step around their property and I have no doubts that they will succeed. And we will start with tours next year.

quince is also a favorite fruit of my childhood. in fact my mom just traveled to Mexico as this fruit is not popular here in the States and she was able to make some jam out of quince! (we use it to make empanadas (pastries).
funny that quince actually means 15 in spanish!LOL